Harrison's Reports (1928-1928)

\ HARRISON’S REPORTS 75 May 12, 1928 “Two Lovers” — with Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky ( United, Artists, Aug. 18; 7,500 ft.; 87 to 107 min.) This is an excellent drama, produced with extreme care. Direction and acting are of such a high order, and the action is so interesting and appealing, that one’s interest never lags up to the last scene. There is suspense in many of the situations, caused by the fact that the life of the hero is put in danger. The hero is shown as being a prominent member of a Flemish secret society, the aim of which was to organize the Dutch to drive the Spaniards, who were the conquerors, out of Flanders, their country. The scenes that show their secret betrayed by the heroine herself, who had been forced by her uncle, commander of the armies of the invaders, to marry the hero, even though she loved another man, are suspensive in the extreme. One does not feel antipathy towards her because she had misjudged the hero. She had learned that the hero had killed her beloved, but she was unaware of the fact that he had killed him because he, the dead man, had attempted to assault a young girl. The scenes that show the heroine, after she had been informed what the cause of the murder was, rides back and, by using the secret information to which she had accidentally come into possession, induces the Dutchmen to come to the aid of the hero and to drive the Spaniards out of Flanders, are suspensive in the extreme. The suspense reaches its highest point in the scenes that show the Dutchmen crossing the morass, which reached their necks and, by using the drawbridge, which the heroine with superhuman efforts had succeeded in lowering, entering the town and subduing the invaders, forcing them to sign a treaty of peace, one of the stipulations being the evacuation of their land. The plot has been founded on “Leatherface,” by Baroness Orczy; it has been directed with intelligence by Fred Niblo. Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky do excellent work. Noah Beery, as the commander of the Spanish forces, is good, too. Nigel de Brulier, Virginia Bradford, Helen Jerome Eddy, Eugenie Besserer, Paul Lucas and others are in the cast. Note : This picture, too, is not drawing at the Embassy, on Broadway, this city, where it is now playing. Perhaps the fact that it is a costume play accounts for it. “Vamping Venus” — with Charles Murray and Louise Fazenda ( First National, May 13; 6,027 ft.; 70 to 86 min.) Produced most lavishly, and with an expenditure of a large amount of money, but it is doubtful if the picture will appeal to the masses. It is a high-class picture ; it unfolds chiefly in the days of ancient Greece, and shows the hero (Charles Murray) as a modern person who finds himself among ancient people, just like the cowboy in “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” who found himself in ancient England. There is comedy here and there but not enough to hurt anybody’s sides. The hero is transported to the days of ancient Greece by a beer bottle, with which he was struck on the head, while he was trying to be gay with another person’s sweetheart, at the cabaret where this girl was working. During his unconsciousness, he sees the “sweetheart” as Venus, the Goddess; the man who had struck him on the head with the beer bottle as Hercules ; his wife, as Circe. Young Spec O’Donnell impersonates Mercury, the messenger of the Gods; Fred O’Beck is Vulcan ; Gustav von Sefferitz is Jupiter. Mr. Murray sees his wife and is frightened. But he regains his composure when he is told by Mars, his guide, that she is not his wife but Circe, the enchantress. Some comedy is caused by Miss Fazenda, as Circe, when she uses her "baton” to make people come to her, even though they tried to escape her “charms.” Some more comedy is caused when Mr. Murray regains consciousness and is faced by his wife, who, having learned accidentally from a radio that he was at that cabaret, rushed to twist his ear. The picture has been directed by Eddie Cline. “Harold Teen” — with , Arthur Lake and Mary Brian (First National, April 29; 7,439 ft.; 86 to 106 min.) Not much to it. It is a silly college play, in which nothing extraordinary happens, the action consisting mainly of college boy pranks, a college boy love affair, and of a foot ball game, in which the hero, like in all pictures of this kind, appears at the last minute to save the game for his college. In most of the film Arthur Lake is made to act as a simpleton. A mild thrill or so is offered near the closing scenes by the bursting of a dam. The story shows the hero going to Covina, California, to attend high school. He was glad to go there because the heroine, whom he loved, moved to that town, too. His cousin, in whose house he lived, did everything he could to make things uncomfortable for the young hero. Eventually, however, the hero gains so much popularity that he overshadows the popularity of his cousin. Some amateur pictures are shown being taken by the school boy characters and thrown on the screen. It is hardly likely that they will cause any laughter. The story has been founded on the comic strip by Carl Edwards. It has been adapted by Tom Gerathy, and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Lucien Littlefield, Jack Duffy, Alice White, Hedda Hopper and others are in the cast. “After the Storm” — with Hobart Bosworth (Columbia, April 19; 5,459 ft.; 65 to 74 min. ) Mediocre ; not even the usual good acting of Hobart Bosworth in his familiar role of sea captain and the one or two thrilling scenes of a fight in a dive in Singapore and the storm-tossed ship, can make this tiresome picture entertaining. The action is very slow and story is so unoriginal. It revolves around a sea captain (hero) who in his youth was a smuggler in love with the girl who he supposed had betrayed him to the police. Hating all women as a result, he opposed the match of his son when he fell in love with the heroine (Eugenia Gilbert), daughter of the woman he was to marry once, when she came on board at her dying mother’s request that she be taken to San Francisco. But after finding out from his dying wife (a beachwalker) in Singapore, who had divorced him right after the police had sent him to prison for five years, that it was she that had betrayed him and not his sweetheart, he exerted every effort to rescue the young couple when they were caught in a violent storm while eloping in a small boat. After the rescue he consents to their marriage. Miss Gilbert is a pleasing heroine and Charles Delaney is likeable as the son who is exceedingly fond of his father. George Kuwa contributes the comedy as the superstitious Chinese cook. The picture was directed by Joe Nadel under the supervision of George Seitz. No author is credited with the story. Most of the action is on board and some of it is along the waterfront of Singapore though only the one Chinese character appears in the cast. You might get by if Hobart Bosworth is a favorite or if you play it as a double feature. “Easy Come, Easy Go” — with Richard Dix (Paramount, April 21 ; 5,364 ft.; 64 to 73 min.) It is an amusing farce comedy. Though the plot is a pretty weak story, it has made good entertainment. The subtitles as well as the situations cause the laughs. Mr. Dix, as the hero, is fired by his father, a radio station owner, because he used profane language in his broadcasting. Angry at the world, he is almost run over by a truck driven by another “swear-artist.” At this time he meets the heroine (Nancy Carroll), who, with her father, a millionaire, is on his way to a sanitarium for his (the father’s) health, and immediately falls in love with her. Out of gratitude for having been rescued by the stranger crook, he helps the crook, who had just stolen the payroll of the heroine's father, make his get-away, and with him, they travel on the same train as the heroine to the sanitarium. Mr. Dix has difficulty in making everyone realize that he is not the crook and after many misunderstandings and mixups, the real crook is caught. He wins the heroine and the friendship of the millionaire. While Mr. Dix does good work as the poor but misjudged honest young man, the acting honors go to Charles Sellon whose burlesquing of a veteran crook made the audience chuckle considerably. Others in the cast are Arnold Kent as the would-be fiance of the heroine and the late Frank Currier as the heroine’s father. The picture is founded on the stage play by Owen Davis, scenarized by Florence Ryerson and directed with skill by Frank Tuttle.